Williams made his prior comments to Fox News host Bill O’Reilly on Monday on the “O’Reilly Factor.”

A note at the end of his essay says that Williams “is now a full-time Fox News contributor.” (Williams has signed a new three-year contract with the cable network for nearly $2 million.)

Fox News is owned by News Corp., publisher of the Wall Street Journal.

Williams’ ouster has sparked a firestorm of controversy, with pundits, politicians and members of the public taking sides.

Excerpts from Williams’ online piece:

–”Yesterday NPR fired me for telling the truth. The truth is that I worry when I am getting on an airplane and see people dressed in garb that identifies them first and foremost as Muslims.”

–”This is not a bigoted statement. It is a statement of my feelings, my fears after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 by radical Muslims. In a debate with Bill O’Reilly I revealed my fears to set up the case for not making rash judgments about people of any faith.”

–”My point in recounting this debate is to show this was in the best American tradition of a fair, full-throated and honest discourse about the issues of the day. — There was no bigotry, no crude provocation, no support for anti-Muslim sentiments of any kind.”

–”I say an ideological battle because my comments on ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ are being distorted by the self-righteous ideological, left-wing leadership at NPR. They are taking bits and pieces of what I said to go after me for daring to have a conversation with leading conservative thinkers. They loathe the fact that I appear on Fox News.”

–”Daniel Schorr, my fellow NPR commentator who died earlier this year, used to talk about the initial shock of finding himself on President Nixon’s enemies list. I can only imagine Dan’s revulsion to realize that today NPR treats a journalist who has worked for them for ten years with less regard, less respect for the value of independence of thought and embrace of real debate across political lines, than Nixon ever displayed.”